


A History of Window Cleaning

by urlsweretaken



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 12:04:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3487583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urlsweretaken/pseuds/urlsweretaken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Maki is a librarian and Rin wants to check out what may be the most inane book in history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A History of Window Cleaning

When Maki had first heard of the new position opening in the city library, she had jumped at the chance to earn some extra money over the summer. Granted, her family already had plenty of money, but spending money that  _she_  made- on her own- would feel ten times better than spending money her parents gave her.

So Maki had taken an application, filled it out with all of her  _amazing_  credentials, and was hired almost on the spot.

What Maki hadn't realized when she had applied for the job was just how... difficult it would be. Not that the job itself was difficult. All she had to do was scan the books that were being checked out, and make sure to ask people who had overdue books about where those books were. In essence, it was everything Maki had assumed it would be when she had signed up.

Except for one thing. Maki had believed that since it was... you know, the  _library_ , it would be peaceful and quiet, allowing Maki to enjoy some books she herself would borrow from the library.

Well, reality had a way of screwing over the poor princess, and that library was  _rowdy_. As in, little kids screaming at the top of their lungs rowdy. For some reason, the other librarians she had seen at work just did not care about the noise, so she had a feeling it probably was just normal in this library at this point. So now she was stuck with a summer job where she essentially had to babysit all the little sh-  _kids_  that frequented the library.

Following the tradition (she assumed) of librarians just not caring about the noise levels, Maki kept her mouth shut about everything that happened in that library. Even when kids returned books in horrible condition, even though she  _knew_  that book definitely had a page 47 at one point, she kept it to herself.

 _Just a few more weeks_ , she thought to herself.

It was the one thing that kept her sane.

* * *

Maki was handling the library as she usually did when the girl first checked out the book.

One look at the girl made Maki think that she would probably end up being just like the other kids in this library. Even though the redhead could tell that she was roughly the same age as herself, the orange haired girl looked so energetic that it seemed as if hyper behavior was the only thing the girl could possibly have.

"I'd like to check this book out, nya!"

Maki got a good look at the book. A History of Window Cleaning? Why would a girl this energetic want to read a book on the  _history of window cleaning_  of all things?Despite the boring title of the book, however, the girl's energy was off the chart- so much so that Maki knew she definitely did not want to associate with this girl, if she wanted to avoid a headache, that is.

Still, Maki had a job to do. "Okay, I'll just need your library card."

The girl tilted her head curiously. "... Rin doesn't know what that means, nya..."

The redhead nearly sighed in frustration, but it was still early in the day, and her patience hadn't been spread that thin just yet. "Your library card? The one you had to sign up for to check out books?"

The cat like girl perked up so quickly, Maki had to worry about whether she got whiplash. "Oh yeah! It's right here!"

She took a small card out of her jacket pocket, and presented it to Maki with such a cute smile that the redhead couldn't help but smile weakly in return.

The pianist scanned the card, and found in the personal information assigned to the card that the girl's name was Hoshizora Rin, and she was 15 years old, meaning that Maki was right on the money with her guesstimate of Rin's age. She held out the card and the book to the orange haired girl.

"Ne... you're pretty!"

Maki dropped the book, spluttering in embarrassment.

"Way too pretty to be a librarian! And way too young too! Are you sure you work here?" Rin smiled innocently at the girl whose complexion was rapidly approaching her hair's color.

"Wh-what?! What are you talking about, baka?!"

"Uwa! You get even prettier when you're embarrassed!"

Maki puffed out her cheeks in embarrassment, making the orange haired girl giggle just that smallest bit louder. Suddenly, a hand was thrust out in front of the redhead's face, surprising her.

"My name's Rin, nya! What's yours?"

With a bit of hesitation, Maki took the offered hand and shook it. "Nishikino Maki..."

They released hands, and Rin clasped her hands behind her back cheerfully. "So what are you doing here as a librarian?"

* * *

After that question, Maki got roped into a half hour conversation, which Rin kept going even during the times when people would come up to Maki to check out books.

And this continued. For weeks. Every Saturday, about half an hour into Maki's shift in the library, Rin would come up to the librarian's desk, check out a book, and talk to the redhead for hours on end. At first, Maki had only reluctantly participated in the conversations, preferring to let Rin ramble on and on about different things, and only answering questions Rin asked her. But of course, over time, Maki learned to open up to the other girl. Only a little bit though.

She did, however, learn that Rin was going to Otonokizaka High School, which was the same place Maki would be going in the fall ("We could be classmates, Maki-chan!"). She also learned the Rin really,  _really_  liked ramen and was also extremely athletic, having been on several award winning sports teams in the past. Ironically, Maki also learned the orange haired girl was allergic to cats when she had to use the back entrance because the front door had stray cats lingering around. The talks the two had were always all over the place, and rarely had the same topic more than once. Except... there was  _one_ constant in their talks.

The book that Rin checked out was always the exact same book. A History of Window Cleaning. Now, Maki wasn't the kind of person to judge, but seriously what kind of person reads a book like  _that_?

Of course, to preserve Rin's feelings, Maki never commented about the book the girl checked out. But still... it had to be a  _damn_ interesting book for Rin to check it out a total of 12 times in 12 weeks.

So one day, when Rin walked up to Maki with the same cheerful grin and the same book in her hand, Maki steeled her nerves and prayed that she wouldn't offend Rin by asking her next question.

"Say Rin..."

The redhead scanned the book under the library's scanner. "Is this book... really that interesting?"

Rin cocked her head in confusion. "What do you mean, nya?"

"Well... you check out the same book every week, so it must be really interesting, right?"

"Hm? Oh, this!" Rin took the book from Maki's hands and threw it behind her, laughing. Maki was so stunned she didn't even remember to scold Rin for roughhousing one of the library's books.

"Rin just needed a reason to come up to Maki-chan and talk to her every week, nya! I didn't even know what book I was checking out, hehe!"

Maki blinked in confusion.

"But Rin's really happy, because Maki-chan started the conversation today! We must be getting closer, nya!"

Maki facepalmed. "If you wanted to talk to me, you could have just started a conversation normally..."

"But Maki-chan looked so scary, nya!"

"That's because I was frustrated with how loud the kids were being!"

The cat like girl's eyes widened. "Oooh! That makes sense, nya! The kids at the library are always so loud!"

Maki gave a firm nod of agreement. "Exactly! And this is a library! Shouldn't they be quiet?!"

Both of them were quickly shushed by a nearby child who was just trying to read his library book in peace.

Rin hummed softly, appearing to be deep in thought. "What time do you get off of work, Maki-chan?"

She blinked. "In an hour. Why?"

"Well, we could go somewhere once you're done, so we could talk without the noise of the kids in the background!"

"E-eh?!"

"Hm? Does Maki-chan not want to?"

"N-no! I do want to. It's just... that seems... sort of like a date..."

The orange haired girl thought about it for a moment. "You're right, it does! Let's go on a date after you're done with work, then?"

Maki spluttered in embarrassment for a second, but quickly got over it. "A-ah... sure..."

The other girl grinned happily. "Yay! Alright, I'll just wait with you until you're done then!"


End file.
